Hsu, Recobbled

I've just uploaded an updated master data set of the contributions made and raised by Norman Hsu from 2003-2007.  I've replaced the Google spreadsheet in the same spot, so the old links should take you to the new data.  As before, the contributions are organized by recipient, by contributor, and by individual transaction.

This data isn't necessarily infallible, as it's culled from a variety of sources and undergoes a series of iterations, compilations, and aggregations on its way from the source documents to this uploaded format.  If you're looking to confirm a specific transaction, try the Center for Responsive Politics for federal, the National Institute on Money in State Politics for state, and the NYC Campaign Finance Board, the LA City Ethics Board, and the San Francisco Ethics Commission for local.  The NYS Board of Elections and the California Secretary of State records fill in some of the state-level gaps left by NIMSP.

Some notes about this update and what's changed since the last master data set upload:

• New total:  $2,438,510 (previously: $1,594,622)
• Recipients of Hsu-connected funds: 84 Democratic candidates and candidate PACs, 22 Democratic committees and state parties, 1 Republican candidate
• Average contributions per day (weekdays June '04 - July '07): 1.02
• New contributors:
  • Raymond Chan
  • Aurelia Chang
  • Hsin-Ping Chang
  • Yau Cheng
  • Joshua Hadar
  • Youn (Kim) Hadar
  • Joel Rosenman
  • Molly Rosenman
  • Ned Rosenman
• Existing contributors:
  • Susan Chilman
  • Norman Hsu
  • Oliver Hsu
  • Wilfred Hsu
  • Yu Fen Huang
  • Danny Lee
  • Soe Lee
  • Stanley Lim
  • Alice Paw
  • Dimiple Paw
  • Marina Paw
  • Nelson Paw
  • Vivian Paw
  • William Paw
  • Winkle Paw
  • Lelawattie Su
  • Paul Su
  • Peter Tan
• Names requiring further review (not included in data):
  • Corey Chen
  • Daniel Frisch
  • The Hadar family (Allison, Anna, Eric, Gualum, Lisa, Margery, Mica, Olga, and Richard)
  • Ex-wife Patricia Hsu
  • The San Francisco Hsus (Mark, Joyce, and Ta-Lin)
  • Nay Oo
  • Henry Rosenberg
  • Karen Tan
  • Noah Yago
  • The Zabels (Deborah (nee Miller) and William)
• Additional candidate PACs have been combined with their respective candidates (Hope Fund: Barack Obama; Unite Our States: Joe Biden; PAC For a Change: Barbara Boxer)
• The data include $613,000 in unknown Hsu-related contributions to Hillary Clinton (equaling $850,000 disclosed by the campaign minus $237,000 uncovered to date).

The Leaderboard:

A couple of changes to the leaderboard are worth noting.  Most notably of course, Hillary expanded her lead over Eliot Spitzer from $100,000 to nearly $800,000.  Also trending higher is Barack Obama, who jumped from 8th place to 4th, in light of the new contribution data and crediting contributions to Obama's Hope Fund.  And joining the top-10 for the first time is Joe Biden, whose total more than doubled upon incorporating the new data and crediting contributions to Biden's Unite Our States.

Bear in mind that these totals may have a lot of room left to swing - up, down, or both - in coming weeks.  If and when Hillary discloses her list of 260 Hsu-connected contributors who accounted for the $850,000 she's returning (shortly before she asks for many of those contributions back), we may find either that many of these donors also gave significantly to Hsu's other favored candidates (pushing the totals far higher) or that Hillary has grossly over-(temporarily)-refunded to contributors who were not in fact Hsu-connected (pushing her own total far lower).  If the Clinton campaign elects not to disclose this list, we'll just have to wait until the third quarter filings (due 10/15) are made public, to piece it together ourselves.

There's also always the possibility that one or more of the individuals currently counted in the Hsu fundraising totals could be removed if new information argues compellingly against their inclusion.

Battle for Ultimate Scandal Supremacy update:

As a result of the fairly conservative inclusion criteria I'm using to sort out the above-listed names, Hsu is still lagging Mr. Abramoff's total by about 5%.  Still, wouldn't count old Norman out just yet - the excluded names undergoing further review account for roughly $700,000 in uncounted contributions, a fraction of which would put Norman on top.  More significantly, if the iceberg/tip ratio suggested by the gap between Hillary's $850,000 disclosure and what we've uncovered independently ($237,000) holds for the rest of Hsu's beneficiaries, there could be another $4 million or more still out there.

Open Issue Bleg:

If you look through the transaction-level tab of the spreadsheet, you may notice a peculiar transaction on October 8, 2004, when Hsu himself contributed $26,600 to the California Democratic Party - the second largest contribution made by anyone during the whole sordid affair.  What makes this one odd is the fact that the party later returned the entire sum (the refund was dated "Unknown" on the campaign finance disclosure).  Alert Hsu-trackers will remember that the California Democratic Party was tipped off this past June about Hsu's shady dealings and that the party went on to forward that tip to the Clinton campaign (though Hillary wouldn't make a peep or pledge any refunds until after the glaring improprieties became front page news two months later).

The timing of Hsu's $26,600 contribution to the California Democratic Party and their subsequent, leanly detailed refund of that donation during the 2004 cycle suggest that the state party may have had good reason to disassociate with Hsu more than 2.5 years earlier.  There is, of course, any number of reasons a contribution might be refunded, but unfortunately, my attempts to clarify when and why this huge donation was returned have thus far been fruitless.

I've emailed Chairman Art Torres and the general info e-mail address, and by CC the California Secretary of State's Elections Division, thus far to no avail.  As this may turn out to be the first instance of documented recognition of Hsu-related campaign finance irregularities, you may be starting to feel a creeping urge to e-mail Chairman Torres and the general info e-mail address, and by CC the California Secretary of State's Elections Division too.  If so, you'll want to call their attention to this transaction, dated 10/8/04 - a $26,600 contribution made by Norman Hsu and returned in full on an unknown date for an unknown reason.

Summary tables for the updated data set are available after the jump.  The data files themselves are available here.

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Update:  O.J. confirms: Hillary has the serial criminal vote locked up!

Previously:
Some Oddities About Hsu's Ostensibly Unwitting Woodstock Backer
Mesa County DA: $4 Million Bond Not Enough To Cage Hsu [Update: $5 Million Is?]
Dems Lowballing Hsu Fundraising Totals [Update: Hsu Offsets?]
Hsu Sent Suicide Note [Update: Blaming Obama]
Federal Agencies Unofficially Probing Hsu Scandal Number [At Least] 4
Hsu's Financing Source Revealed
Hillary's Massive Hsu War Chest: Abramoff Parity Nears
Photoblog: Touring Norman Hsu's New York
Hsu Captured! (Drugged?)
Hsu Still A HillRaiser In Good Standing?
Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Norman's Door.
Hsu Reclaims Fugitive Status, Forfeiting $2 Million Bail
Hsu vs. Abramoff
New Hsu Review: Following [the Rest Of] the Money
A Really Big Hsu...
Hillary Vows To Give [At Least Some Of] Hsu Contributions To Charity
From Now On, When the Phone Rings You Say, "Vandelay Industries."
Hillary's Magwitch?

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